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EAST TENNESSEE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL/SPECIAL TO THE NEWS SENTINEL A ceremonial swing of a sledgehammer starts the demolition of a house on the site of the future East Tennessee Children's Hospital on Feb. 19, 1968, in Fort Sanders. Pictured are Administrator Jim Brown, board chairman H.D. 'Breezy' Wynn, board member John Woodward, Director of Nursing Mary Storm, Nursing Supervisor Eva Jean Rule, Administrative Secretary Merle Collins, board member Bud Farmer and Roy Marshall of building maintenance. (Photo: ETCH)

On a day East Tennessee Children's Hospital made a move toward the future, Dr. Joe Childs wanted to also re-create the past.

On Wednesday, as the hospital broke through a wall to begin construction on its new $75 million tower addition, Childs, the chief medical officer, directed a photo shoot that replicated one from 1968, which showed then-board chairman Herman D. 'Breezy' Wynn swinging a sledgehammer through a wall of a building on the site where the hospital now stands, as other hospital personnel watched.

'I thought, that would be so cool to re-recreate that picture,' said Childs, who came across the photo while researching the hospital's history for its 75th anniversary. 'We got people who were in similar roles to take part. It was fun.'

In Wednesday's picture, board member Jim Clayton swings the hammer as hospital president and CEO Keith Goodwin and other administrators look on. The 'update' adds a child — former Children's Hospital patient Ella Greer, 4.

Children's Hospital is constructing a 245,000-square-foot building that includes a new neonatal intensive care unit with 44 private rooms; a new inpatient/outpatient surgery center; a family lounge and resource center overlooking a rooftop garden; and a computerized pediatric simulation center in which health-care providers can train for emergencies on child-size medical manikins.

Scheduled to be completed in fall, the building will bear the name of Scripps Networks Interactive, which donated $10 million toward it.

The original photo, dated February 1968, was the culmination of a long and bitter battle about where a new Children's Hospital should be located.

East Tennessee Crippled Children's Hospital opened in 1937 at 1912 Laurel Ave. in Fort Sanders. Over the next 20 years, the hospital underwent various expansions, eventually treating all children, not just those with disabilities.

By the mid-1950s, the hospital was out of room to grow. Officials looked at merging with Presbyterian Hospital, now Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center, which surrounded it on three sides, but ultimately wanted to remain independent.

In the mid-1960s, the board considered moving the hospital, first to the former John Tarleton home off Sutherland Avenue, then to the campus of the University of Tennessee Medical Center, which offered the land free — a move supported by the Knoxville Academy of Medicine and the city and county. But doctors were divided, Childs said.

After deciding to remain in Fort Sanders, the board sought to purchase land across the street from the original hospital for expansion. But when some home and business owners balked at selling, the hospital built on a site diagonal from Presbyterian, where it remains.

The new hospital opened in 1970. In 1973, it opened a 24-hour emergency department.

Read or Share this story: https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/local/2016/06/01/a-renewed-vision-east-tennessee-childrens-hospital-recreates-1968-photo/91006860/